As soaring inflation continues to push people to the brink across the EU, anger is rising and spilling out on to the streets.

On Saturday October 22 the centre of Madrid filled with noise, whistles, chants and union flags as around three thousand people called for increased wages and pensions in line with inflation.

The cost of living protests in Spain mirrored those happening across France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic as soaring costs cause people's purchasing power to disappear.

Food, fuel, rent and home heating prices have all spiralled upwards and many people are braced for worse to come as the cold months close in.

READ MORE

UK PM resigns: Why, and what's next?

Huawei 'disappointed' as UK steps up ban

China-UK Bridge Builders: James Trapp

"Salaries are frozen"

"We've seen a huge increase in inflation for the past nine  months and nothing has been done," Antonio Pérez (Secretary General of the FETICO Union) told CGTN at the march in Madrid.

"Salaries are frozen and its crucial to change the situation, people are losing disposable income and it will become more and more difficult to live and pay rent."

The Spanish government has introduced two extraordinary inflation-busting packages over the past few months that have subsidised petrol, public transport, and imposed windfall taxes on the excess profits of energy companies and banks.

And new measures worth $3 billion dollars are also in the pipeline. Protestors, however, say it simply isn't enough.

Today saw just one in a series of demonstrations building up to a much bigger one at the start of November.

Inflation eases slightly

There was some good news this weekend as inflation eased slightly in Spain from a 40-year high in double digits over the summer to nine percent in October, a dip that unfortunately won't be felt in the real economy any time soon.

With a harsh weather predicted over the coming months, the Eurozone is bracing for a winter of discontent.

Europe's greener energy future

Elsewhere a big demonstration in Berlin raised calls for a quicker transition away from fossil fuels and to demand a fairer distribution of government funds to help with the spiralling energy costs.

EU leaders met this week to formulate a roadmap to get through the current energy crisis.

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that his nation is withdrawing from the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty that protected fossil fuel investment.

"We have decided to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty because this is consistent with the positions we have taken, in particular with the Paris agreement," he said.

It appears that one outcome of the conflict in Ukraine may be a shift away from reliance on Russian fossil fuels and towards a greener European future.